After being gone far too long, Alki Beach’s Statue of Liberty has returned to her pedestal, and on a night she certainly was needed.

She was the community gathering point on September 11, 2001 and for a few weeks following, and she has been sorely missed as such through a variety of events recently. After vandals broke off pieces of her crown and eventually her torch, she was removed and recast, and endured the battles of various factions concerned about how she should be displayed ongoing, to make her appearance tonight, under the watchful eyes of firemen, Boy Scouts (whose predecessors raised the money to place her there originally), a big band, kids, dogs, newscasters, local politicos, and neighbors.